Monday, August 7, 2017

This environment is unfamiliar! Can I cope with this for ten (10) weeks? How about my family? How about the fun activities I had with friends? The restrictions are too much!!These were questions lingering through my mind after the first three days on placement. The reality dawned on me–“life outside home is challenging”.The key question then was; should I give up? As I sat in my room, lost in thoughts, my eyes flashed my ICS T-shirt hanging directly opposite me. The back had an inscription “challenge yourself to change your world” There again I realised, after all, the ICS journey was a challenge in its entirety. I was motivated to keep moving.The first week was full of planning the activities for the period. It was fun and full of expectations. But I wanted to make an impact.We got into full blown activities in the fourth week after initial research on sexual reproductive health. Our visit to Nantong kurugu was revealing and re-energizing. I recovered my initial enthusiasm as I pronounced to myself, this is the ICS I desired to work with. The community demonstrated in conspicuous terms the impact that ICS (previous volunteers) together with the project partner had on them.

Volunteers Alhassan and Nikki receiving feedback from the Children's Community Club in Nanton- Kurugu

Members of the children’s club were more open and willing to share on sexual reproductive issues than my experience from other parts of Tamale. Their desire to learn and impact other lives was welcoming. But it did not end there. My timidity begun fading away as I exhibited some level of confidence as I got involved in the interaction. I also felt important in the team and realised how crucial it was to have people to support you. What a glorious opportunity from ICS!I knew I could make an impact!I knew we could make an impact!I knew lives depended on us.And I realised: “Making an impact was amazing”.

Volunteer Alhassan after the Children's Community Club in Nanton-Kurugu

Friday, August 4, 2017

Week 1From the beginning I felt very happy I was
going to work as a volunteer, arriving at Radach on the first day alongside my
fellow ICS volunteers. I was already really excited to meet people from
different regions and countries, and walking into the room, full of welcoming
faces made me all the more excited.I found my seat, alongside my fellow RAINS
volunteers, whom I got to know over the duration of the day, as we were being
introduced to our project. Following this, we were told that, that very evening
we would be meeting our host families, whom we would be spending the next 10
weeks living with alongside our counterparts. So, after the day of training was
completed we awaited the arrival of our host families.The journey from Radach to the home of my
host family was quite far, however this did not detract from their beautiful
home, and lovely family, whom we spent the evening getting to know over dinner.One of my favorite parts of the training over
the following days at Radach was the food – wow it was amazing! And we ate a
lot of it as a result.Work Begins: Monday 17th July
2017During the first week, we worked hard as
Team Unity, bonding through our mutual desire for the project to succeed.
Consequently, on Friday afternoon, we all went home for the weekend happy. Not
only because we had officially become team unity, but because the project had
finally begun!

Our First Guided Learning DayIn the second week, we also had a guided
learning day around volunteering. This was led by Monalisa, Nikki and myself. I
felt that it was a great success, and went really well. We had fun activities
such as quizzes and debates to compliment the important topics we were
broaching. These were important in getting everyone involved in the day, and
making it enjoyable and educational for all. I loved it.

Week 3 – Our first meetingIn the third week, we had lots of work to
do, as we were organizing a day with PPAG, NTCD’s in order to train the Peer
Educators. It went really well, with our whole team working hard to organize
it. The day itself was a success. It was interesting and educational, and I
feel like we all really learned a lot. We used the whole day for the meeting
which meant that it was also very tiring, but definitely worth it.

Week 4Now in the fourth week, we are planning to
do our first community entry this coming Thursday. A lot of activities will be
taking place on this day. This includes our meeting with the chief first and
foremost, overseeing the Children’s Community Club and using the
questionnaire’s we previously wrote around the Kayeyei, teenage pregnancy, Non
Traditional Condom Distributors (NTCD’s) and Healthcare to retain information from
the community of Nantonkurugu. Our team is currently doing really well to
organize this day, working hard to achieve our goals to make this day and all
the following ones a success.

What I love about my experience so far…I really love this project, as it has
opened my eyes to a lot of issues in the world, as well as allowing me to work
with lots of different and interesting people. I have also been using the work
we have been doing to learn new skills which will benefit me in the future. My
fellow volunteers are fun to be with, as we are constantly learning from one
another. Our team leaders are also very hard-working, not only regarding the
project, but also when it comes to keeping our team active, happy and united.
As a result of this project, I think I will become more confident in myself and
my abilities. However, my main aim within this project is to make a difference
in the lives of others. A difference I aim to continue making even after the
project has finished.

Monday, July 31, 2017

The rainy season in Tamale is in full effect. Perhaps it should not come as a surprise that such a religious country would suffer from rains of such biblical proportions. The rain can be as merciless as it is surprising, cutting off power, destroying roads, and claiming lives in the process. However, the past two weeks have not at all been reflected by the weather; birthdays and project work have provided a deluge of opportunities to laugh and learn.

The realization has also struck that living in Tamale will always be a learning experience for an outsider. However, whilst societal norms vary wildly between Britain and Ghana, one thing that has become abundantly clear is the overwhelmingly welcoming nature of the locals. Greetings are exchanged between complete strangers, as if they were lifelong friends, a concept that is sadly now alien to most Westerners.

The RAINS team have been hard at work, our planning phase is now complete, and we have swung into the meat of the project with a renewed passion. Already we have had meetings with local reproductive health organisations and community members, and our first community entry begins next week. Special mention must be made to individuals in the team who have persevered through illness and homesickness, and still have the strength to contribute with enthusiasm and care, they are a testament to themselves, and to the programme as a whole.

The quartet of birthdays have been a blessing amongst the project and the weather, featuring homemade cakes, party games, and a lot of dancing! It has been lovely to relax, unwind, and to watch people from entirely different cultures celebrate in unison. Parties in Ghana are often whole family affairs, and regularly end in someone being soaked in water. Music is an essential part of the experience, and it appears that louder equals better is the general rule of thumb. Interspersed between important project work, these parties have been a true gift.

So much has happened in the past two weeks that it feels futile to try and condense the experiences down into a single blog post; it has been a whirlwind of elements, people, noise, and joy, but to sign off for the week, here is a photo of us having a swim in the rain.

Friday, July 28, 2017

Colourful. Unique. Passionate. Are all words that spring to
mind when considering Ghana. Specifically the city of Tamale, within which
project RAINS is situated. A city such as this, as we quickly realised, allows
one to become wholly immersed in its culture. Such a society carries many
unique customs, within which a love for both the people and the place itself
evolve.

One can draw several similarities between London and Tamale.
The myriad of smells and sounds, for example, that characterise each specific
part of town you find yourself exploring. Lost in the hustle and bustle of this
lively city. The similarities do not cease there. For with great hustle and bustle
comes great amounts of traffic. Said traffic includes the mind-blowing concept
of line taxis and the fleets of motorbikes, all accompanied by the infamous
Yellow Yellow’s. Such modes of transport which make up the basis of all
background noise in Tamale, create an ambiance not dissimilar to that of
London.

However, the foundations of such a city are carried by its
culture, beautifully unique to any other. These traditions originate from an
unspoken agreement of mutual respect between all, aided by the sense of
community. Such a culture allows you to feel at ease even when you are 3,924
miles from your physical home. I say physical, as the emotional connections one
is easily able to form with both your host family and the people of Tamale creates
a united feeling. A feeling which captures the culture of Tamale. A feeling
which allows you to become a part of the community immediately. A feeling which
makes the Ghanaian culture such a pleasure to experience.

The people, specifically, make up the untarnished City of
Tamale. Common greetings which are overlooked in the vast majority of the world
contribute to the core beliefs ingrained in Ghanaian society. The phrase ‘how
are you’, for example, carries an unexpected amount of gravitas. Demonstrating a
general caring for any and all others you may encounter on your morning journey
to work. Other morning encounters can be less…verbal. This is referring to the
wildlife, such as the goats, existent in every area of Tamale. Literally. Every.
Area. Making them the sort of pigeon of Ghana, albeit much cuter. I, personally,
see the goats as a second community within the already bustling population of
Tamale. They live within the communities, and even create those awkward street
encounters where you have to sort of manoeuvre yourself around one another.

Both communities, verbal and non-verbal, contribute to the overall
experience of Ghana. Specifically, Tamale. An experience I have cherished thus
far, and one I would most definitely never change. It has, without a doubt,
come with its challenges, but with the aid of a fantastic team, supportive
community, and spring rolls, I look forward to what the next seven weeks has to
hold.

Monday, July 24, 2017

As soon as we left
the airport in the North of Ghana, there was an overwhelming realization that
we had entered a different world and that was in no way a bad feeling. On the
car journey to the hotel (where we would be staying for the duration of our
in-country training) we gazed out the window and took in the unfamiliar
surroundings. I and my fellow volunteers saw a great number of bikes, women
carrying buckets of supplies on their heads and a flock of goats that were free
to roam the streets of Tamale. To say that we were tired from a two-day plane
journey would be an understatement but never the less we were glad to meet more
of the volunteers at the hotel Radach, who we had gotten to know very well at
the UK training day.

As the first week
progressed we soaked up as much as we could of the Ghanaian culture. On
Thursday the 13th of July 2017 we were treated to a drum and dance
performance which was hugely energetic and fun and by the end we were on our
feet dancing along to the drum beats. I even got to have a go on one of the
bongos which was really cool. Then everyone finally departed to their host
homes.

My host family was
very welcoming and were eager to help, which I was very grateful for. My host
mother who we call auntie speaks very good English which helped calm my fears
of there being a language barrier. To my amazement I have begun to like spicy
food. The sauces they use, mixed together with fried rice and chicken makes for
some very tasty dishes.

Project RAINS is
also shaping up to be quite an ambitious undertaking. The group will be going
to various communities and raising awareness of subjects such as teenage
pregnancy and ways in which it can be prevented, which will have a guided
learning day run by volunteers, Florence and Tina. Disability which will be
headed by Alhassan, Jeff and Blake, focusing on educating the younger
generations on the different types of disability and how they can help
integrate the physically and mentally challenged into society. Every one of us is itching to get
started and make a small but significant difference. There also some promising
potential to go on various cultural day learning trips, to the Larabanga mosque
to delve into its fascinating history, all being looked into by volunteers
Chris and Tina.

The UK
counterparts have also found the first week of the project ‘’Exciting and
interesting” full of researching and participation. By the end of the placement
the Ghanaian counterparts hope to gain more confidence in public speaking and
leaving a positive impact to the lives of the people in the various
communities. The Ghanaian counterparts have also expressed how they have
enjoyed getting to know their UK team mates. I also think the same could be
said for the UK counterparts. It has been an overall eye opening and surreal
experience so far, from the extremely friendly locals, to the cars without
seatbelts! We have a feeling that the
best is yet to come.

Monday, July 3, 2017

We’re
now approaching the end of our project and have a lot of work to complete. It’s
been a wild ride from the moment we left Heathrow. On hindsight, we wondered
what we would be telling ourselves at the beginning of the project. So here are
ten things we wish we’d know about Tamale in week one.

1)Branch
out your food options; ask the locals where the buy the best yams. The best
food will always be in the most unexpected place.

Isobel, Katie, Daniel and Nuru at the radio station

2)Eggy
bread for breakfast is one of the best things about Ghana. It’s basically an
omelette in a pan-fried, buttery baguette. Establish the eggy bread stations
early on so you can make an early trip before work.

3)Prepare
to become overly-friendly. Even the natural extrovert will become overwhelmed
by the amount of attention you receive. Just revel in all the attention you get
and take the opportunity to have a few great conversations along the way. Those
chance meetings are among the moments you’ll never forget.

4)Buy
a spare phone out here; you can get a very nice little smartphone for a fraction of the cost in
Ghana.

5)Ghanaians
are very passionate people; you’ll have marriage proposals and constant
requests to be your friend. Take it all with a pinch of salt.

Bronte and Katie in Nanton-Kurug

6)Don’t
bring so many clothes, shampoo and conditioner: you can find it all in Tamale.
Albeit it is quite expensive with the budget you are given, but don’t expect to
be completely isolated from your home comforts.

7)But
bring as much hand sanitiser as you possibly can. It’s very expensive and very
necessary.

8)Bring
memory sticks as well. Group sharing of documents becomes a nightmare when you
have to do it over the internet.

9)Start
buying fabric and going to the seamstress early. You’ll be tempted to put it
off for weeks to search for the perfect fabric, but when you finally get around
to it, it’s addictive and you’ll wish you had more time to experiment with the
Ghanaian style.

The Team in Nayorku

10)Finally,
don’t be afraid to put your own stamp on the project. This was reinforced to us
at the beginning, but it was only by the end that we really got what it meant
to take initiative. Take time to learn what the project is, and then start
putting faith in your own opinions.

Welcome
to Tamale, Ghana. Where else can you get a taxis for twenty pence, wake up
naturally at six in the morning and feel cool in 30 degree heat? We, Cohort
Seven of International Service have been in Tamale – a city in the northern
region of Ghana – for just over a week and already feel completed immersed in
Ghanaian city life.

Team Leader Katie's Birthday!

It’s
been a wild ride from the moment we left Heathrow up until now. We arrived in
Tamale on the Thursday night and met our wonderful host families. We’ve learnt
to navigate the taxis system in Tamale, which functions as a car-based version
of the London Underground. We’ve learnt the language and the many different greetings
which are used in Ghana, when you will undoubtedly use the wrong answer many
times. We’ve learnt when mangos are good for eating (and when they are good,
they are good). And finally, we’ve learnt about sustainable development in
Ghana and what we actually came here to do.

We are
working for a charity called RAINS (Regional Advisory Information Network
System) on a project called ‘Safe choices’ that aims to educate children on how
to make better long-term decision for their future. For us, this mainly
involves encouraging children to stay in school and teaching them about sexual
health. Also we go into the communities to make sure the people there are
provided with accurate information about sexual and reproductive health.

Emily, Bronte and Katie in Nanton-Kurugu

This cohort we are beginning to
investigate the rates of teenage pregnancy in communities and, by the end of
it, we hope to have gathered enough information to establish the first women’s
community club. We will also be establishing more Children’s Community Clubs in
the communities and doing a lot of baseline research. We believe its important
that the children have the right information at the right age but we also
believe its important that parents have the information too. So a lot of
research will be done on how we can spread information to people and make sure
that the work we are doing is sustainable.

Ghana
is an incredible place to live. Everyday something surprises you. Hopefully
we’ll be able to wrap our heads around living here soon. But even in the first
seven days we’ve had many experiences that we will never forget, who knows what
the next three months will bring!

As part of our job with RAINS we
work with five different communities focusing on keeping children in school and
sexual and reproductive health. The communities we work with are Nayorku,
Langa, Nanton-Kurugu, Zokuga and Gbimsi. For a few years now our relationship
with Langa has been strained and the past cohorts have worked towards
rebuilding that relationship with them.

On the
26th of May the RAINS teams travelled to Langa to establish a new
children’s community club and take the biggest step in two years to working
with the community again. It was our second trip to the community this cohort following
an initial proposal to establish the children's community club. Being able to
assure Langa professionalism and making sure safeguarding measures were put
into place for the wellbeing of children was a huge key to our success to
re-entering the community.

Sway, Illiasu and Emily running the children's community club

On this
day we were able to enter Langa and meet with the wonderful peer educators
willing to help us at the school and also a group of local women eager to discuss establishing a women's community
club. We decided to keep the children's community club focused on two essential
topics for our children's community club: Malaria and personal hygiene.

We started the programme with a
talk about Malaria, we saw this as an important issue because of the rainy
season. The children were educated on the causes, signs and symptoms, treatment
and ways to prevent the breeding grounds of mosquitoes. However, the team
focused our attention on the importance of sleeping under a treated mosquito
net and destroying the breeding places of these mosquitoes through keeping the
environment they live in clean.

The Malaria talk was followed by a
Hygiene game to demonstrate to the children how disease can spread from person
to person by hand by not keeping them clean. Therefore, we realize that there
is a need to educate them on hygiene because it is said that cleanliness is the
next to Goodliness for every society to develop. We then enlightened them on
personal hygiene, types, benefits and consequences of poor hygiene. From our
research we observed that hand washing can prevent most of the diseases around
our region. Proper hand washing was
demonstrated to them to also keep their hands clean and safe.

The team with the children of Langa

The day was lovely and the children wanted to have us the
whole day, but time wasn’t on our side to pursue that. There was a final
bye-bye with children running after our bus.

Written by Godsway and Iliasu

The day was lovely as children wanted to
have us the whole day, but time wasn’t on our side to pursue that. There was a
final bye-bye with children running after our bus.

Monday, June 19, 2017

The differences between a
British wedding and a Ghanaian wedding are evident from the start. Firstly,
there no need for an invitation, because you are invited. Everyone – even if it
is your second counsin’s ten times removed neighbour’s nephew – is invited. The
whole of Kalpohini (an area of Tamale) was shut for business on Sunday. And a
month before-hand there were posters plastered everywhere advertising the
wedding, as if it was going to be the next block-buster to hit the cinema. We
were told weddings are a key social event in everyone’s calendar and it was
promised to be the highlight of our time in Ghana. So, naturally, we jumped at
the opportunity to attend.

The wedding lasted for four days. It began on a
Friday and finished on a Monday. Throughout the weekend a huge operation takes
place all around the neighbourhood, as the meals are cooked for the attendees.
Everybody comes together to help with the preparations. We woke up on Sunday
morning to find our house had been turned into a cooking operation on an
industrial scale. There were trees literally being fed sideways into the fires
to fuel the massive feast being prepared.

Once you get to the
actual ceremony, the first thing you will notice is the myriad of colours. All
the women have traditional Ghanaian cloth cut into a stunning shapely dresses.
The men stride up in Islamic robes of white and the bride herself wore a yellow
dress embedded with golden sequins and hands adorned with henna designs.
Unfortunately, we didn’t quite get the dress code and was told off by a few of
the women for not ‘wearing [our] cloth’. Therefore, should you ever get the
opportunity to attend a wedding, make sure to get a highly colourful dress made
for you by one of Tamale’s many seamstresses. For one you’ll avoid the
embarrassment we encountered; secondly, you’ll never again be able to wear such
a bold dress as you can sport to a Ghananian wedding.

And now on to what
actually happens at the wedding. It is very much like a British wedding, you
get the opportunity to take photos with the bride and very unlike a British
wedding you will get money stuck onto your forehead in the middle of dancing
with most of the congregation watching you. Across the street peoples’
back-gardens were open to the public and in each house there was another little
party going on. Towards the end of the evening we went onto a bus and were
driven a good half an hour away to the groom’s house…ahem palace. It was only
then we realised that the groom was the grandson of a former president of Ghana
– (and the first functioning toilet we’d used in weeks!). We danced a bit more
and got dragged into some photoshoots.

To conclude the
weekend we attended a baby naming ceremony. In Ghana a child only receives its
name seven days after it was born. The seventh day is when the priest attends
to the child and the name is announced to the whole family. Again, free food,
photos with the child and greeting the entire of our host family’s community.

This weekend highlighted the wonderful sense of
community that exists here in Tamale. All weddings are a party for everyone,
every child is everyone’s child to celebrate and everyone contributes to the
labour. In Ghana they often say when you enter their home; ‘you are invited’.
It not only means you are welcome, but you are welcome to eat their food, dine
with them and stay however long is needed. This wonderful idea of hospitality
is so defining of Ghanaian cultural that, in the end, it means a few strangers
from England can feel right at home in the middle of Northern Ghana.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

The RAINS team have spent the last 11 weeks working in the
Nelson Mandela Development Centre, in Tamale, so feel that the quote ‘it always
seems impossible until its done’ by the famous South African president, helps
sum up our placement nicely.

The team has had some significant setbacks along the way to
get to this point. However here we are 11 weeks on, stronger than ever! We have
achieved a total of 6 Children’s Community Clubs in 3 different communities in
which we have talked about a variety of sexual health related topics, such as
personal hygeine, puberty, STIs and teenage pregnancy. We have done some
serious research, wrote report after report after report, a Peer Educator and
Non-Traditional Condom Distrbutor Training and a whole community sensitisation.

It is fair to say that 11 weeks ago, all of this would of
seemed impossible. Three months really does fly by and before we knew it, we
were reaching the end of our journey. We are now all looking forward to
returning home, whether it’s somewhere else in Ghana or the UK. Our Accra
volunteers are looking forward to arriving on the beach while the UK volunteers
are really just looking forward to some chicken nuggets.

To say good bye on the final blog post of this cohort we
have decided to reflect on our placement together.

What have we learnt?
How will this help us when we return home?

One thing we can all agree on is that we have had a great
time and will miss each other so much! A trip to Ghana 2018 is definitely on
the cards for this team RAINS, we just can’t seem to live without each other!

Although it seemed impossible at times, we have done the
work we needed too to help make our mark on our communities so it’s a good bye
and a pat on the back for us!